#TheBigconvo; Do High Street Brands create individualism or Puppets?

In short #Thebigconvo is a conversation/opinion post on a topic answered by various bloggers and writers. Interested in taking part drop us an email at thebigconvo@chareemag.com to find out the next topic.

Natascha from nataschacox
As a nation we are inherently divided by class and this transcends into most of our daily lives. We can choose to accept this or do something to change it.
Even the biggest of designer brands need to roll out a certain number of the same pattern in order to make the most of their returns on that item. But, it is the individual that makes it their own, that makes it unique!
Just because high street brands mass produce the same line of clothing and stock huge numbers throughout multiple stores across the country, it does not mean that we do not use our individualism to put an outfit together.
We are all different shapes and sizes and the clothes we buy fit us accordingly. After all, do we not scour the shops and online equivalents for hours on end, searching for something we love, something right for us?
Do we not try to find that one item that no one else could possibly wear to the same event? Is this not in an effort to keep and display our individualism?
If you are saying that we are puppets because of the way high street brands operate, then are we not puppets by simply following fashion at all? It is the experimentation, the cutting of the strings, that allows us to remain ourselves, allows us to keep our own personal style.
Put your own stamp on your clothes, customise, take risks. A simple accessory, or pairing with an item of a different brand will solve the nightmare of running into someone wearing the same outfit.
Don’t feel the restraints of conformity or let your style be dictated by fashion. Fashion is but a guide book and ‘High Street’ brands provide the materials for you to make the look!
It is after all your individualism that makes you, you!
Instagram – natascha.cox |Twitter – nataschacoxNC |Facebook – nataschacoxNC
Chichi from Chichi Writes

I am – and have always been – a high street girl at heart. I have never shopped for designer items, and I can find great fashion items on the high street.

Often, high-street stores tend to stock products that are similar or on trend for the season of the time. However, I believe that high-street brands allow for individualism because you can experiment with fashionable pieces without having to worry about the price tag. I often find great products to wear or use on the high-street at discounted prices, whereas similar items in designer stores cost a fortune and that’s no good for my student budget!

Sometimes it seems like high street brands creates followers. Living in a materialist society, we are all accustomed to advertisements telling us that we need to have certain products, or that we need to always stay up to date to the latest fashion trends, or that we need to look like certain celebrities. High street brands often buy into that. Sometimes we feel as though we are merely followers of fashion, instead of just being ourselves because we are constantly bombarded with messages from the media on how to look and what to wear. These messages filter out to other settings, such as events like “own clothes day” at school. I think it takes a special type of person to stand against the tide of pressure to look a certain way.

Plus, fashion is almost a creative outlet in a way. It gives us the space for experimentation and individualism as opposed to looking like a celebrity clone. We can style ourselves in the way we want. We can dress how we want – within reason obviously!

So as for experimenting, I mix and match pieces from high street brands that reflect my personality. When I go clothes shopping on the high street I shop for items that reflect my preferences, and I create my own outfits that reflect my individuality, so I don’t feel like that shopping in high-street stores makes me a puppet.

I will always be a massive fan of the high-street. I love the fact that I can get stylish clothes that fit right within my budget! I like the fact that as a consumer there is a lot of choice, and that’s very important to me, and as a fashion-lover that suits me.

Heather from 100 ways to 30

What does your style say about you? So many of us are high street lovers, we love our Primark, we love our Topshop and we love our H&M’s, because for many of us it is the most affordable thing. And while these shops may take their design inspiration from the catwalks and essentially each other, does that then make us all puppets as we end up in the same ?6.99 jumper from Primark? No, of course not. Take fashion bloggers for example, many of them are gifted similar items from the biggest high street names in the business; some of them are gifted the EXACT same thing! But what I love about this, is seeing the many different ways that all these fashionista‘s choose to style up these outfit’s in their own unique way! Yanin from the ‘I Dress Myself’ blog and YouTube channel may be gifted a sleeveless jacket and choose to style it in a completely monochrome and minimalistic way. While a blogger like Sarah Ashcroft from ‘That Pommie Girl’ could be gifted the exact same jacket as Yanin and choose to style it in a completely different way, opting for a more glamourous, Kim Kardashian – esque style, which she is so famous for!

I guess what I’m trying to say is that high street brands simply provide the resources for individuals to create their own unique style. And while these resources may be highly similar at times, it is how the wearer chooses to style it, that makes it individual!

Amie from The curvaceous vegan

I definitely believe that the high street has a lot to offer us, we live in a world where we have accessible fashion 7 days a week, and it’s cheap too, but I do believe that they do create a lot of individual designs, because even though they manufacture the same product, we style it all differently. For example say someone was to wear a jumper dress, they might style it with thigh high boots whereas someone else might style it with trainers to keep it casual. What is important to remember is we all have different ways of wearing outfits, so someone could be wearing a similar thing but they add their own sense of style to it.

However, in some respects we are puppets to the fashion world, we have fashion weeks four times a year and brands will show us what is going to be hot for the year, so we all go out and spend our money because we know exactly what is in fashion at this time of the year. According to The Telegraph last year the fashion industry was worth ?26 billion to just the UK economy, it shows we are that obsessed with fashion, we will spend so much money on keeping up with the latest fashion styles that we are quite literally puppets to the industry.

Never forget that we all have our own individual style and just because someone wears a piece one way doesn’t mean that someone else will wear it the same way!

thecurvaceousvegan.com | facebook: thecurvaceousvegan |instagram: @amiehayward |twitter: @amiehayward
Jayne from Electra Violet
With the dominance of high street brands so prominent in the rule of modern fashion – it is an undeniable fact that said control gives rise to the copious cascade of carbon copys, and such swift duplication arguably renders originality obsolete.
Noting the recent rise in the practice of fast fashion – the industry’s high speed trend highway – the trickle down effect from catwalk to rail has never been more evident, and undoubtedly so empty. It is clear to see the adverse effect that such rapid speed is having on the fashion industry – on its followers themselves and the creators even, if the current flurry of creative directors leaving their houses isn’t enough to alarm then maybe you should question your own thirsty appetite for more mode that never seems to cease. We’re all guilty of it, yearning after a particular ‘it’ item or attribute, whether it be fringing, eyelets or the skinny scarf – whatever was *just* seen on a flood of bloggers on the ever proliferated tiles of Instagram – however, blink and you will miss said item – linger too long and that coveted purchase (if you even got that far) will become stale. Nevertheless, on you will go, unscathed – mindlessly lusting for the next ‘it thing’ with no time to stop and think, do I really want this? Or I am I being puppeteered by the hands of fast fashion? If one thing is for certain it is this: fast fashion has made its mark on the high street and such reign has upped the tempo of fashions notoriety – and seemingly not for the better. I for one am often left searching for something more, scouring the online stores of fashion’s game players feeling empty and uninspired, only left turning to the depths of depop and vintage stores, yearning for something with more testament of time, an item which rings with individuality, not a poorly made carbon copy with the life span of mere months – weeks, even.
Now, fast fashions domineering ways are not all doom and gloom in theory, while I do still parade the high street picking items which I feel I could style in a way that is individually me, the question posed whether high street brands create individualism or puppets still stands, and it’s answer I feel is subjective; but I know for certain that the impact of fast fashion on high street brands alike has sparked a change in my fashion appetite, and I now contemplate each purchase with care, waste not want not and so on – I am careful not to become a puppet to the fast fashion highway.
Twitter – @Electraviolet |Instagram – Instagram.com/jayneemma |YouTube – YouTube.com/user/Electraaviolet